An Elevated Balloon-Kite Hybrid Platform for Surveillance

摘要

This paper describes the design of an aerial platform which is a hybrid of a closed throat balloon and a kite. Such a system overcomes many limitations of a conventional tethered aerostat system for applications such as long endurance aerial surveillance. The paper describes the details of design, fabrication and testing of the gas retention bladder, outer envelope and the kite of a hybrid system. Details of two flight tests are also presented.